Songs of praise, loud songs of praise for Chris Waters' newest full-length collection of new and selected poems, for each and every poem in the book is just that--a song of praise. Waters
honors the cat, the pelican, the loaf of bread, the horizon. He walks the beach, he watches, he listens, and with each word in each poem he tenderly gives the world back to itself. The great
poet Galway Kinnell said, "sometimes it is necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness." These poems do just that. As one reads through these pages, one gets the sense that this is how life
should be lived--bearing simple witness to everything: the beauty of nature, the loss of a beloved pet, the gorgeous and sometimes awkward dance of this being human, and with each turn of the
page, one is more and more filled with gratitude for all of it. Waters' book is a gift, a reminder that everything is sacred, but nothing is to be taken too seriously. As he reminds us in one
of his poems: "Things happen,/ don't happen, it doesn't matter,/ it does matter. Poems get done." Blessings on this collection, and gratitude, such gratitude, that Waters' poems get done. This
tired old world sure needs them.Lise Starr Poet Laureate, Rhode Island
